individuals. During that period also, it is believed, that owing to the shifting nature of this city's population, above 180 persons have left the Society for other parts of the world, and that nearly 40 persons have, from various causes and motives, thought proper to withdraw; and yet under all these disadvantages, our Society at present may be fairly computed, taking old and young together, as consisting of about 540 individuals." The forenoon attendance on the Sunday, is about 250 persons, the afternoon between 400 and 500; and during the evening lectures, the Chapel is always crowded, and would be so were it much larger, as often numbers are obliged to go away for want of room. The plan of lending out tracts to any person who chooses to apply for them, has done much good, upwards of twenty strangers applying each Sunday night. The library in connection with the congregation, now consists of 340 volumes on theology and general literature. Its funds for the present year, equal those of the three preceding years together. The Sunday and week-night school, at which about 160 boys and girls attended, has been, from various causes, discontinued; but it is sincerely hoped, that it will again and speedily be re-established. The Benevolent Society for the relief of the sick and poor of the congregation, continues its beneficent labours, and it is hoped, by increased aid, will accomplish more extensive good. The Chapel debt has been reduced one-half, chiefly by the generous assistance of friends in England.

The report of the Treasurer of the Association was then read. Considering that no public effort had been made to obtain subscribers, it was cheering. Upwards of one hundred individuals had enrolled themselves as subscribers.]

"On the whole, the Committee think there is good ground for congratulation on the present aspect of the cause of Christian truth and righteousness in Scotland. There are many places in which from one person to a dozen individuals are known to reside There are who are favourable to the objects of the Association. two or three populous towns, in which there appears to be a cheering prospect of introducing the knowledge and the profession of Christian Unitarianism. There are eight places in which the worship of the One true and living God, the Father, in the name of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is regularly conducted, and That even in four of these places regular ministers are settled. these need the assistance of their brethren in other lands, is true. That much ill will is occasioned by the expression of Unitarian opinions, even in places where it has long been advocated, and more so in districts where it is less known, is also true. He who would be in deed and in truth, a disciple of the Son of God, has yet to take up his cross, to endure the world's scorn and the bigot's contumely-to have his motives traduced and his principles reviled to pass the fiery ordeal of family dissentions and friends' alienation. These have, in all ages, been the tribute which he must pay, who would do good to his fellow creatures, and leave the world wiser and better than be found it. But there is an elevation of purpose and a sanctity of feeling, in rational views of

God, and in benevolent wishes for man, which more than compensate for these temporary ills. And there is now a movement in the nations, cheering to the heart of every lover of the rights and improvement and happiness of his fellow beings. Dense and murky is the cloud which has long rested on the religious world. "But the bow of promise is spreading its beautiful arch athwart the dark surface, and brightening as it expands." The mists are lifting even from those tracts where they have hovered longest and gathered thickest. Soul-inspiring breezes will soon spring up, and the dark masses roll away for ever. Be it our individual, our associated effort, to prepare the soil and sow the seed of truth and charity. If it tend to human virtue and God's glory, Heaven's blessing will be upon it. The Sun of righteousness will cherish the growth and ripen the fruit. We may be spared to witness the full corn in the ear; and though not permitted to gather in the ripened and glorious harvest, we may exult in the thought, that those who come after us will thus be honoured, will thus be happy, and that whilst rejoicing in the blessedness of knowledge and goodness, they will venerate the memory of those who laboured for their good by promoting the world's reformation."

Mr. Calder of Davies Dykes, made a few remarks in approval of the Association and its objects, and moved "That the Report of the Committee be received and adopted." The Resolution being seconded by Mr. Simpson of Greenock, was unanimously approved.

Mr. Harris, in moving the next Resolution, said, he had hoped it would have been proposed by his venerable friend, Mr. Robert Millar of Dundee, an individual who for more than forty years had conducted the worship of the Unitarian church in that town. Illness prevented Mr. Millar's attendance, and a similar cause also deprived the Meeting of the presence of another venerable friend, who was to have seconded this motion, Mr. Kilpatrick of Paisley, who for twenty-two years had aided his brethren in advocating the pure and simple truths of the Gospel. After the statements in the Committee's Report, and the excellent remarks of the Chairman, it would be unnecessary to do more than merely move the Resolution. Mr. Henry of Greenock seconded the Resolution, and Mr. Findlay of Paisley supported it. His remarks

were given in a most forcible and interesting manner. They deeply affected many individuals. Greatly do we regret our inability to convey to our readers an outline of his most admirable and touching observations.

On moving the 3d Resolution, the Rev. W. Smith of Dundee, spoke to the following effect:

"The Resolution which has been committed to my care, is expressive of the lively interest which the Unitarians of Scotland feel, in the labours of their brethren throughout the world; and embodies the fervent hope, that the exertions of our fellow workers in almost every quarter of the globe, to make known the truths of uncorrupted Christianity, will ultimately issue in the completion of the prophetic declaration, that the day will come, when the Lord shall be king over all the earth-that the time will arrive,

when but One God shall be adored, whose name and whose praise shall be one.

"However deeply the Unitarian public in this country may have hitherto participated in those truly Christian feelings of de. votedness to the cause of religious truth, which awaken the energies and stimulate the zeal of their brethren in other lands, it has not, as yet, been in their power, actively to co-operate with their distant friends, in the advancement of the holy and sacred principles of their common faith. Still, while every effort has been necessarily confined to the removal of those obstacles which impede the advance of Christian truth in our own country and our own neighbourhoods, we have not been unobservant of the progress of Unitarianism in other lands, nor uninterested spectators of the arduous and zealous labours of those, who, though divided from us by the natural boundaries of kingdoms and country, are one with us in mind, and united to us by the kindred sympathies of common feelings and common hopes. There is not, I am persuaded, a single individual friendly to our cause, in the large assembly I address, who does not join with me in this declaration of fellow feeling and deepest interest in the struggles and triumphs of our absent brethren. We all view with admiration, we all acknowledge with gratitude, we all from our hearts wish God speed' to the exertions of our English friends, to whom as individuals, to whose fellowship funds, and to whose parent Society, the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, we owe a debt of gratitude, which, in the absence of other ability, we most cheerfully repay by this honest expression of our thankfulness and good wishes.

"In Ireland, too long the dwelling-place of political contention and religious intolerance, we behold with unfeigned pleasure the plant of Christian charity, hitherto scorched by the withering influence of superstition, or blighted by the chilling frosts of misgovernment, putting forth the tender blade which promises an early luxuriance. May it be cherished by the fostering care of man, and watered by the dews of heaven, and speedily whiten unto harvest; may it replenish the land from north to south, and from the east unto the west, and cheer every heart, and supplant every noxious weed of hatred and uncharitableness, until Erin becomes, as once she was, the abode of Christian knowledge, and the land of Christian peace. We wish to convey the expression of our friendship to our brethren on the other side of the Irish Channel; we wish to tell them, that they share in our sympathy, and partake of our best wishes for their success in their arduous struggle; we wish to tell them, that the voice of their eloquent champion in the north, and the writings of their persuasive advocate in the metropolis, and the bold manliness and Christian fortitude of their friend, whom we rejoice to see among us on the present occasion, have awakened in Scotland an interest in their labours. We wish to tell them these things, and to convey to them our fervent hope, that the time may not be distant, when the glorious cause in which they are engaged, propelled by the

mighty hand of Providence, may pass triumphant o'er the barriers which intolerance and fanaticism oppose to its advance, and expel from their land every feeling of party enmity, and every breathing of unchristian strife.

"We turn to our friends on the European Continent, and we behold more than one hundred churches in Transylvania, and many temples in Geneva, once the sanctuary of Calvinism, consecrated and hallowed by the worship of God the Father, in the name of Jesus his well-beloved Son. We sympathise in the labours and mourn over the distresses of our brethren in Transylvania. We know of none more worthy of respect for their integrity, and compassion for their wrongs: almost unknown to the world, for more than 300 years they have maintained their Christian uprightness; and although many, bribed by the prospect of worldly power, or terrified by the threatenings of earthly punishment, have surrendered their faith, yet thousands have continued steadfast, and in despite of poverty and persecution, remained for successive generations worshippers of God in spirit and in truth. But the cloud which so long overshadowed their land is passing away; and we rejoice to learn, that the Unitarians of that remote and isolated nation, are fast regaining that station and weight in their native land, which their political constitution permits, and the cause of truth requires. We participate in their wishes for a more intimate union with their brethren in Britain, and trust that the couriers who bear reciprocal messages of fraternal regard, will not long have to pass through an enemy's country, but that all Europe, from the shores of the Euxine to the waters of the German Ocean, will be evangelized, and brought to a knowledge of the glorious truths which cheer the hearts and support the integrity of the disciples in Transylvania.

"But what shall we say of Geneva? That city, from whose gates free inquiry and Christian truth fled, affrighted by the rack, and the stake, and the gloomy dungeon-that city, where Calvinism once reigned in all its unmitigated terrors, where the High-priest of that gloomy religion could repose in peace, although the groans of an expiring brother vibrated in his ear, and the lurid glare of the pile at which the amiable Servetus was consumed, fitfully illumined his unhallowed chamber,—that city, once desecrated by a sacrifice as foul as ever heathen offered to his blood-thirsty and slaughter-loving gods, is now our own, and Jehovah is there adored as a God of love, and Jesus followed as a messenger of peace. Do we triumph over the fall of superstition and the overthrow of the fanatic faith, whose votaries could perpetrate a deed so unholy? Yea: we rejoice with holy joy, that mercy has there supplanted judgment, and that a religion which teaches charity, has driven from the Leman's shores a creed which sanctioned slaughter, and directed the blood-stained hand that waved the torch of death.

"The Resolution which I am about to move for your adoption, also alludes to the labours of our brethren in India and America. In both, we have cause for much congratulation; in both, we

behold friends whose exertions we regard with feelings of deep interest; and in both, to use the words of a great and distinguished individual, who may well be denominated the Star of the East (Rammohun Roy), we behold a 'battle going on between reason, Scripture, and common sense, and wealth, power, and prejudice.' On this battle, though a bloodless fight, hang the most momentous consequences; may it issue in the subjugation of the enemies of the truth, the triumph of the friends of humanity, the friends of man.

"In India, the progress of free inquiry and uncorrupted Christianity is exposed to peculiar difficulties. We might foolishly imagine, that the precepts of Jesus would be scorned by the followers of false gods, but upheld by the professed adherents of the Prophet of Nazareth; but the case is reversed in the Eastern World; and we there witness the unprecedented anomaly, of Hindoos and Mahomedans embracing the Christian faith, in direct opposition and despite of the efforts of men, who call themselves by the name of Jesus! How long this unnatural opposition to the progress of Christian truth may continue, we are at a loss to determine; but we are anxious to raise our voice, feeble though it may be, against the unholy combination, and to tell our Trinitarian brethren of Calcutta, that while they thus continue in virtual league with heathens, (in retarding the dissemination of principles which, although not teaching all the doctrines they profess, even by their own admission, contain a part of the truth,) they are pursuing a course denounced by the law of God, and in direct opposition to the interests of man. We trust that their efforts will be unavailing to stay the advancement of the pure Gospel of Jesus; and we trust that many, very many hearts will be cheered by the blessed consolations of that faith, which they proscribe as more dangerous and pernicious than the idolatry of the worshippers of Juggernaut, or the sensual morals of the Arabian Impostor.

"But America, land of the pious Channing and the apostolic Ware, is the country upon which we can rest with unmingled satisfaction and delight. She has escaped from the twilight of superstition, and emerged from the shadow thrown by the cloud of bigotry over too many of the nations of the earth, and thousands of her sons are enjoying the cheering beams, and walking in the noon-day light of the Sun of righteousness. Here, indeed, are prospects of ultimate success sufficient to encourage our exertions and awaken our gratitude; and the contemplation of what America has done, and will in all human probability accomplish, should prevent us from desponding, and teach us to hope. But lately, Unitarianism was comparatively unknown, or at least unprofessed, in that mighty continent; but no sooner had her children escaped from the thraldom of political control, and rested after the turmoil of political contention, than directing their thoughts to religion, they sought to form their creed as conscience dictated. Reason uncontrolled by human authority, and Revelation uncorrupted by human additions, were the guides they